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State offers health care alternative

TALLAHASSEE — The House and Senate are ready to take up their dueling alternatives to expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act.

But a third possibility — call it “Beancare”— is all but dead.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan by Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, to tap into billions of dollars in federal money to offer private health-insurance to low-income Floridians. The plan (SB 1816), which appears to have broad support in the Senate and the backing of Gov. Rick Scott, is now ready to go to the Senate floor.

But while the committee also approved a far-smaller health coverage proposal by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, the bill (SB 1844) likely won’t be heard again.

Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said he doesn’t see a need for the full Senate to take up the Bean proposal because it is similar to a House bill that is expected to go to the House floor later this week. That bill (HB 7169) would reject accepting federal money and would offer $2,000 state subsidies to help poor people get health coverage.

Bean, whose proposal would reject federal money and offer subsidies of $10 a month, had asked the Appropriations Committee to approve his bill to keep options open.

“This is an alternative, because who knows where we’re going to go with expansion of health care for individuals?” he asked.

Similar questions are being asked throughout the Capitol as lawmakers speed toward the May 3 end of the legislative session. House and Senate Republican leaders have rejected the idea of a Medicaid expansion that was part of the Affordable Care Act.

But they have taken dramatically different positions as they seek to come up with an alternative to the Medicaid expansion. While the Senate is willing to use federal funds to offer private health insurance to roughly 1 million Floridians, House Republicans have repeatedly said they do not think the state should rely on money from Washington.

House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said Tuesday it is “OK that we’re in different places right now,” and he hopes the House and Senate can reach an agreement by the end of the legislative session.

“But if we’re not, that doesn’t mean that the world comes to an end; it just means that we’re going to have to continue to talk in the offseason and see if we can’t find some middle ground later,” Weatherford said.

Scott drew national headlines in February when he announced support for expanding Medicaid. But with that idea going nowhere in the Legislature, he reiterated his support Tuesday for the Negron alternative.

As a sign of how senators have lined up behind the Negron bill, there was almost no discussion before the Appropriations Committee approved it. Also, a wide range of interest groups — including AARP, the Service Employees International Union, the Florida Hospital Association and the Florida Association of Health Plans — simply signaled their support from the audience, instead of testifying on the bill.